Troopers Catch their Man after 10 years on the Lam

60-year-old John Comoza is now in custody at Kenai’s Wildwood Pretrial Facility. Image-Washington mugshot

Soldotna-based troopers apprehended a long-sought suspect, identified as 60-year-old John Anthony Comoza during a traffic stop in Sterling over the weekend. Comoza had outstanding arrest warrants totaling $45,000 dating back to 2006.

On January 1st of 2006, Comoza was arrested after he was accused of stealing a Caterpillar Excavator belonging to a Big Lake man. Although at that timem is was found that Comoza had the Cat, he would not tell troopers where it was at.

A search warrant was issued for Comoza’s property and troopers would locate a 1999 Dodge Quad-cab pickup that had been reported stolen from Harvest Moters just days before. Also located on the property was approximately 300 marijuana plants.

Troopers arrested Comoza at the Ted Stevens International Airport as he was attempting to flee the state. He was charged with two counts of first-degree theft and three counts of fourth-degree MICS. His bail was set at $35,000. By January 20th of 2006, Comoza had bailed out of jail. 12 months later, an arrest warrant was issued for his arrest, but by that time, Comoza was no longer in the state.

Then, after an investigation by Tacoma Police and the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services,that lasted several months in the state of Washington, Comoza was charged with food stamp fraud in 2013.

As the owner of John’s Meat and Seafood on Federal Way, Comoza had fraudulently charged at least 23 different EBT cards, bilking approximately $10,000 from the program. According to authorities, Comoza generated account numbers, then charged those numbers through his meat business that delivered directly to clients. He was able to circumvent the pin number requirement by charging the EBT accounts online.

Comoza was due to be arraigned on federal charges on December 3rd, 2013, but when the scheduled arraignment date came, Comoza was a no-show. He had fled the state.

Comoza would surface again in Oregon. This time he was arrested in a stolen motor home out of the state of Nevada. He was also found to be in possession of a firearm with altered identification numbers. It is unclear if Comoza attended his arraignment on those charges.

After Saturday’s arrest in Sterling, Comoza was transported to the Wildwood Pretrial Facility, where he is being held without bail. He is due to be arraigned at 10 am Monday morning.